Преск-Айл: Государственный парк на озере Эри

Pennsylvania state park on Lake Erie
the Michigan park

Presque Isle State Park (/p//r//ɛ//s//k/ PRESK) is a Pennsylvania State Park on an arching, sandy peninsula that juts into Lake Erie, 4 mile (6 km) west of the city of Erie, in Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The peninsula sweeps northeastward, surrounding Presque Isle Bay along the park's southern coast. It has 13 mile (21 km) of roads, 21 mile (34 km) of recreational trails, 13 beaches for swimming, and a marina. Popular activities at the park include swimming, boating, hiking, biking, and birdwatching. The recorded history of Presque Isle begins with the Erielhonan, a Native American tribe who gave their name to Lake Erie, and includes French, British, and American forts, as well as serving as a base for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet in the War of 1812. With the growing importance of shipping on Lake Erie in the 19th century, Presque Isle became home to several lighthouses and what later became a United States Coast Guard station. In 1921, it became a state park, and as of 2007 it hosts over 4 million visitors per year, the most of any Pennsylvania state park.

Presque Isle was formed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation about 11,000 years ago. The earliest known inhabitants of the southern Lake Erie coast were the Erielhonan, also known as the "Eriez", an Iroquoian speaking tribe of Native Americans. Erielhonan meant the "Cat" or "Raccoon" people, and the name "Erie", a corruption of Erielhonan, became the name of the lake and county in which Presque Isle Park is found and of the city nearest the park. An Erielhonan legend taught that the Great Spirit led them to Presque Isle because of the wealth of game, the abundance of clean fresh water, and the cool breezes "coming from the land of snow and ice" (i. e. Canada). Another legend explains how the Erielhonan ventured into Lake Erie in search of the land where the sun set, but the spirit of the lake blew a fierce storm to keep them from finding it. Presque Isle passed from British to American control after the American Revolutionary War, and the Iroquois sold their rights to the land containing the peninsula to the United States at the second Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. Pennsylvania did not acquire an undisputed title to the land until it purchased the Erie Triangle from the federal government on April 3, 1792. In 1795 General Anthony Wayne built a new, American "Fort Presque Isle", and on April 18 of that year the town of "Presqu' Ile", since renamed Erie, was laid out near it. Wayne died at the fort on December 15, 1796, and was originally buried there. Erie County was formed from Allegheny County on March 12, 1800. Millcreek Township, which initially contained both the Presque Isle peninsula and village of Erie, was one of the original townships. Erie was named the county seat in 1803, incorporated as a borough in 1805, and became a city in 1851. During the War of 1812, Presque Isle played a part in the victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie. Oliver Hazard Perry, commander of the American fleet, made strategic use of the bay as a place to construct six of the nine ships in his fleet. Using this location protected the men by creating an obstacle, forcing potential attackers to circumnavigate the peninsula to reach them. A third, smaller lighthouse was built in 1906 by the Erie Waterworks on the Presque Isle Bay side of the peninsula. Today it stands in the ferry landing for the Presque Isle Water Taxi service, south of the former waterworks along the state park's multi purpose trail on the southeast side of Presque Isle. United States Life Saving Service District 9 opened a life saving station at Presque Isle in 1876. William Clark was the keeper from 1877 until he drowned in 1891. He was succeeded by Andrew Jansen, who was the keeper until 1914. When the Life Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service merged in 1915 to become the United States Coast Guard, LSS Presque Isle, also called the Erie life saving station, became Coast Guard Station #236. The station, still in operation, is assigned to the Ninth District of the United States Coast Guard.

In 1908, Erie started building a waterworks on Presque Isle to provide fresh water for the city. Water from Lake Erie was pumped into two reservoirs on the peninsula, where particulates in the water were allowed to settle, removing them from the lake water. After treatment, the water flowed into the waterlines of the city. In 1917 a pumphouse powered by a steam engine was built: this pumped the water from one basin into the other, then across Presque Isle Bay to Erie. This system of supplying drinking water for Erie operated until 1949. The pumphouse is now used for zebra mussel control and as a concession stand for bicycle and quadracycle rentals within the state park. Presque Isle has been referred to as "Peninsula State Park". The Perry Monument in the park was constructed in 1926 near Misery Bay and the burials in Graveyard Pond. In the 1950s the peninsula was enlarged to accommodate new roads and parking, using of sand dredged from the interior of the peninsula. The resulting basin became the current marina. Other new facilities included three modern bath houses built in 1957. Presque Isle was named a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in 1967. A recommendation was made to abolish the independent board as early as 1930, although this did not come about until January 19, 1971, with the creation of the state Department of Environmental Resources (which later became the DCNR). From 1989 to 1992, over 50 breakwaters were built along the western and northern shore of the peninsula to help control erosion. As part of the State Parks 2000 strategic plan of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Gull Point was named a "State Park Natural Area for rare and migratory shorebirds to rest, feed and possibly nest". The Tom Ridge Environmental Center at the entrance to the park opened in May 2006. As of 2007, the Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Parks, which administers all 120 Pennsylvania state parks, had chosen Presque Isle for its "25 Must See Pennsylvania State Parks" list, citing its status as Pennsylvania's only surf beach, its status as a National Natural Landmark, and its "geological and biological diversity and its historic significance". Scenes for the film The Road were shot at Presque Isle in April 2008, with Beach 10 used as a seashore. A weak tornado touched down in the state park on June 27, 2010. Rated EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, it downed power lines and trees near the Stull Interpretive Center, and also damaged a nearby observation platform. Presque Isle was closed on June 28 to facilitate clean up of the debris and reopened the next morning. During Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, parts and remnants of the storm reached Presque Isle. The park was closed in preparation of the storm and waves reaching 14–18 feet were anticipated, along with high winds. The storm was expected to be severe, but luckily was not. Only 8 foot waves were recorded and not as high of winds either. The park made it out with only minor flooding, a few downed trees, and the loss of power at the park marina.

According to the DCNR, because it has so "many unique habitats, Presque Isle contains a greater number of the state's endangered, threatened and rare species than any other area of comparable size in Pennsylvania". The remaining ecological zones, with their progression from shoreline to climax forest, are a classic illustration of the concept of ecological succession. Much of this progression is due to the changing nature of Presque Isle and its shifting shoreline and dunes. The shoreline, the second zone, is formed by wave action and is in equilibrium between erosion and deposition, with the initial plants stabilizing the sand of the new shoreline. The newly formed sandy plain and the ponds formed in it are the third zone. The ponds start as trapped pockets of lake water and can erode away or be filled by wind blown sand or drifting dunes. The new ponds provide habitat for plants and animals: for example, the state park is home to 89 species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) and Lepidoptera, including 35 different butterflies, as well as 84 different sorts of spiders. The diversity of habitats on the peninsula makes it an ideal home for over 320 species of birds. (For comparison, the United States has about 925 bird species.) Forty five of the bird species found in the park are listed as "endangered" or "threatened", including the piping plover, cerulean warbler, rusty blackbird and saltmarsh sharp tailed sparrow. Many different species of plants and animals can also be found at Presque Isle State Park due to the wide variety of ecological zones. Construction on the center began in 2002, although the idea for such a center at Presque Isle was some 50 years old. Its 32 member organizations include schools, school districts, colleges, universities, museums, state agencies, conservation groups, and private corporations from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ontario.